Saturday, March 18, 2006

"Earthly bacteria could have reached distant planets and moons after being flung into space by massive meteorite impacts, scientists suggest.

The proposal neatly reverses the panspermia theory, which suggests that life on Earth was seeded by microbes on comets or meteorites from elsewhere.

Both theories envision life spreading through the Solar System in much the same way that germs race around a crowded classroom, says Jeff Moore, a planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. 'Once one planet comes down with life, they all get it.'"